Interesting read....been waiting to see what he says. It seems that near the beginning of trying the Antelope he was swapping around amps and such. I personally feel impact/slam typically is a factor of your amplifiers power, but we shall see with an upgraded Zodiac+ power supply. I get the impression he feels it beats the Weis DAC2 for the most part, which is quite a compliment. I have not noticed any lack of "body" or "impact", in fact I thought it was pretty nice/natural in that respect. Out of the headphone outs alone I get plenty of body for my liking, and out of the V181 it is even more impact/body/slam. My studio speakers also have plenty of "body/impact" from using the Zodiac+. He comments positively on timing/soundstage/air, I would agree with these points, and go further to say it is on-point and not artificial in any way. I am currently using a firewire interface (Saffire Pro 24 dsp) --> coaxial/digital --> Antelope. I have the Saffire powered from the wall and the power pin disabled in my firewire cable (via 4pin to 6pin adapter). I still need to try the usb direct from computer to the Antelope. It will be quite interesting to see if there are any changes with an improved power supply.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
BebopMcJiggy 
So... 6 moons updated their review http://www.6moons.com/audioreviews/antelope/zodiac_3.html . Not entirely sure how I feel about 6 moons in general, but compared to the Weiss DAC2/Minerva he says "the Plus already beats it on features, soundstaging, harmonic finesse and price. Where it still takes second place is on body and bass heft." I haven't found myself wanting more bass impact thus far, but I've never heard the DAC2 and I've only really been using it to power headphones so far. Honestly I haven't really been listening that critically, comparing it to my other dacs and such at this point, as I am still pretending like I am burning it in. However, it is obvious to me when I do listen, that it is better than my other DACs. Not by a small margin either (to my ears). Again, I don't have a Weiss or Audio-GD or the like to compare it to, but I guess that will come next... maybe. I might build an amp in the mean time.
Dukja,
In regards to versus the Reference 5, I feel the Antelope Zodiac+ gives a more accurate representation of the music/recording and is just on another level above. The Ref5 was making my overall presentation warm (tested on studio monitors as well as headphones), but it is still a great dac, especially if you are one who is just looking to enjoy every single recording (despite quality) in your collection. Ultimately with the Ref5 in place, this is what I found was happening. I typically associate this with adding warmth or having less treble energy overall. With the Antelope in place I feel I just have a great natural representation of each recording, portrayed with precision and finesse.
I can't speak on the other audio-gd DACS as I have only in depth experience with the Ref5.
Edited by TigzStudio - 10/14/10 at 1:33pm
